mobility planning

1. MALAVIYA NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY JAIPUR, RAJASTHAN
Gender Sensitive Mobility Planning for Indian Cities
Vikram Saraswa
2018 PAR 5242
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2. Introduction
• Just as transportation systems define the structure of
the city, gender is an integral part of the broader social
context interacting with class, race, ethnicity, age,
income, education, religion, geographic location and
physical movement.
• Gender defines how men and women are expected to
act, dress, and behave; this includes travel behaviour
and patterns.
• Indeed, travel patterns are one of the most clearly
gendered aspects of life
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Women tend to make trip chains instead of single-purpose trips.
The trips displayed below show the typical day of a women
Why gender responsive planning?
• Women face more restrictions to mobility, and their
travel patterns differ from those of men.
• This is largely based on the double or triple burden
they carry, juggling care and reproductive roles with
income generating activities.
• At the same time, women are in higher risk of being
victim of crime and violence.
• Therefore, women have different requirements of
transport systems and space.

3. Aim
To understand the mobility patterns and constraints of women in transportation of
Urban Areas.
Objective
• To assess gender specific needs and its influence on mobility
• To study the Women’s interests and needs in urban transport.
• To identify the low incomes women's mobility issue
• To study governments initiative on gender inclusive policies
Methodology
• The entire study is based on Secondary data collection (Literature review of data)
from various research papers, journals, books, working papers and government
documents, reports etc.
• No field survey or expert interviews were conducted during the time frame of this
research work.
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4. Gender specific Needs and Influence in mobility
Gender roles are shaped by economic, cultural and social norms and therefore women’s needs are not
homogenous.
• Gender concerns need to reflect the rights and needs of women not only as ‘women’ but as
representatives of diverse constituencies including
1. informal sector workers 2. domestic workers 3. care givers
4. evicted people 5. Homeless 6. migrants etc.
Women’s needs are:
• Triple Role of Women
• Practical and Strategic Gender Needs
• In this section, information is drawn from literature on how gender has influenced women’s mobility in
general, using specifics from certain cities in India,
• Women Do Not Undertake Frequent and Long Travel in Cities
• Diverse and Multi-Purpose Trips than by Men
• Modal Choice
• Lack of Vehicle Ownership by Women
• Higher Dependency on Public Transit and IPT than Men
• Culture and Travel Behaviour
• Lack of Mobility Pushes Women to Take up Home-Based Work
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5. Influencing factor on Urban Mobility
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Mobility signifies movement of people from one place to another in the course of everyday life. Everyday
mobility is fundamental for livelihoods. Transport enhances functionings (various things that people do or can
do), such as accessing needs and wants, accessing work, travelling for meeting people, etc.
Low-Income Women’s Mobility Issues
• Women’s overall mobility is constrained due to accessibility options at the city level.
• The women in low income communities suffer not only from this mobility constraint but also the additional
burden of poverty.
• Low incomes lead to lower ability to afford housing and they end up in distant locations.
• Even if they are located in the central parts of the city, they often live in informal housing and are at risk of
often frequent evictions.
• Lack of Overall Transportation Planning
• Inadequate or Non-Existing NMT Infrastructure
• Lack of Urban Planning and Integration of Transport
Other Issues
Gender, Poverty and Transport Linkages
Socio-economic aspect Linkage with transport
Income poverty Lack of access to work for women exacerbates income poverty
Expenditure
Transport expenses crowd out other expenditures in household budgets, often pushing women to walk long distances
and compromise their health and education
Lack of capabilities Lack of access to social services is a deterrent to improving capabilities, more so for women than men
Lack of functioning
Due to lack of access to employment opportunities, health care, education, etc. This is more pronounced for women in
a patriarchal set-up
Time poverty
Due to inappropriate transport paradigm, which emphasizes mobility but not accessibility and causes fatigue and
unfavorable time allocation for women, who are either forced to walk or wait for cheap public transport if available
Energy poverty Caused by the need to walk long distances due to unaffordable transport options
Safety poverty Caused by to lack of safe walking and cycling infrastructure, which also impacts access to and from public transit

6. Indicators of Gender Inclusive Transport
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National Urban Transport Policy – 2006, India
• To bring about a more equitable allocation of road space, focusing on people, rather than vehicles.
• To encourage greater use of public transport and NMT by offering central financial assistance.
National Urban Transport Policy – 2014, India
• Philosophy of transportation planning should be ‘avoid-shift-improve’: to avoid increase in demand, users
should shift from private transport to public transport and improve transport technology and fuels.
• Unlike the previous policy, the revision addresses universal accessibility for different user groups, including
women, pregnant women and children.
Affordable and Safe Transport Options
• Streets, public transport stations and walking infrastructure would need to be appropriately designed.
• Traffic management practices such as footpath management and parking policy are essential.
• Footpaths must be provided on all roads and not just the main arteries, as is currently the case in most Indian
cities.

7. Indicators and benchmarks of gender-inclusive transport
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Indicators and benchmarks of gender-inclusive transport
Dimension Indicator Benchmark
Urban form – mixed land
uses and heterogeneous
neighbourhoods
Trip length
Related to the city size, varying from 2 kms for a
small sized city to 10 kms for a mega city
Trip time
Related to city size, varying from 20 minutes for a
small sized city to one hour for mega cities
Mode share Proportion of NMT trips
Related to city size, varying from 75 per cent for a
small sized city to 25 per cent for a mega city
Enhanced mobility Proportion of public transit / IPT trips
Related to city size, at least 50 per cent in a mega
city to 25 per cent in a small sized city
Public transport / IPT quality Distance to public transit/ IPT stops 10 minutes by foot
Affordability Expenditure on transport
Up to 10 per cent of household expenditure for
low-income households
Walking infrastructure
1.5 meter wide footpath
Related to city size; 50 per cent of city to be
covered for small sized and more than 75 per cent
for mega cities
Street lights Every 50 metres
Safety for women
Activities around the clock to act as
‘eyes on the street’
Urban design to include spaces for street activities
such as vending, social gathering, etc.
Well lit bus stops All bus stops to be well lit
Presence of bus information system
All bus stops to need these to inform women,
particularly
Indicator-based assessment of transport through a gender lens can take this process forward. The Indian
Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) has developed transport-related service level benchmarks.

8. References
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HAIFA 1972 AND 1983 Professional Geographers, 42(1), 1990, pp. 54-71
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11. National Urban Transport Policy 2006 by Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. Of India
12. National Urban Transport Policy 2014 by Ministry of Urban Development, India
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14. A Draft Strategic Framework for Women’s Safety in Delhi 2010: Department of Women and Child
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Cities by Sustainable Urban Transport Project
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Working Paper 28 CEPT University.
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9. Thank You !!!
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